Fire in tower block in London.

Started by 5 Sams, June 14, 2017, 05:25:54 AM

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Owen Brannigan

Quote from: Hound on June 14, 2017, 11:28:12 AM
Someone caught a baby thrown from the 9th or 10th floor. Unimagineable.

What state must that poor person been in to throw their child to safety from the 10th floor?

The new decorative cladding on the outside of the building seems to have caused the fire to spread on the outside of what is a concrete building.

Apparently there was one door in and out and no external fire escape.

Firefighters yet again showed incredible bravery in going into the building in long range breathing appartus to fight the fire and rescue people.  Especially in a building that was showing signs of structural collapse.

J70

Are the building codes in England very lenient?

Walter Cronc

Quote from: J70 on June 14, 2017, 02:00:40 PM
Are the building codes in England very lenient?

Its pretty evident across London and other major cities that high rise tower blocks are getting spruced up (for want of a better word) with a variety of cladding materials. You would assume these would have to pass strict building codes.

Buildings of that era in the UK tend to be concrete frame as opposed to steel frame in the US.

A lot of codes were made even more robust following the IRA bombing campaign in 80s & 90s.

armaghniac

The building doesn't seem in danger of collapse. There are two issues here, gas caused it and the cladding seems to have spread it. No doubt lessons will be learned, but too late for these poor people.
If at first you don't succeed, then goto Plan B

AhNowRef

Quote from: StGallsGAA on June 14, 2017, 10:12:10 AM
Quote from: johnneycool on June 14, 2017, 09:23:52 AM
Quote from: Walter Cronc on June 14, 2017, 08:48:13 AM
People at work saying it was recently re-furbed to the tune of £10 million. Just awful.


Reports that some residents were told to stay put and not evacuate the building, utter chaos. You gotta fear for the death toll in that inferno.

Young lad being interviewed said that those who called 999 were told to stay in their apartment until someone came to rescue them, advice that probably contributed to the tragedy.

The same "bad" advice that was given to a lot of the people who died on the Piper Alpha Oil platform disaster in 1988 ... They were told to stay at their muster points ... the vast majority of those who did this died ..


Wildweasel74

#20
10 million refurb and no proper fire alarm system hows that work; can hardly get a minor thing through building control without hassle so how has a fire alarm system been overlooked to not been upgrade! Also what architect/ PM selected the cladding system and did it get building control approval@ Cladding systems are supposed to have fire ratings just encase of this sort of thing! The single stairwell system down the core of the building is the main flaw on building with this age! And likely no proper fire plan in place!

macdanger2


Owen Brannigan

Quote from: Wildweasel74 on June 14, 2017, 04:06:46 PM
10 million refurb and no proper fire alarm system hows that work; can hardly get a minor thing through building control without hassle so how has a fire alarm system been overlooked to not been upgrade! Also what architect/ PM selected the cladding system and did it get building control approval@ Cladding systems are supposed to have fire ratings just encase of this sort of thing! The single stairwell system down the core of the building is the main flaw on building with this age! And likely no proper fire plan in place!

Firefighters expected the building to conform to building regs and told people to stay in their apartments and block door to keep out smoke while they tackled the fire but it got to the outside and burnt up through the cladding and insulation that obviously didn't have the 1 hour fire rating that is required.

A similar tower block fire recently in London was put out because it was contained in one apartment by the building materials.

Tony Baloney

Some lads will be spending time at Her Majesty's pleasure.

ziggy90

Maybe, but will they be the guilty ones?
Questions that shouldn't be asked shouldn't be answered

armaghniac

Posted elsewhere, planning permission for refurbishment
https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/idoxWAM/doc/Other-952368.pdf?extension=.pdf&id=952368&location=VOLUME2&contentType=application/pdf&pageCount=1


The plan called for Celotex instead of mineral wool (which doesn't burn) because it was 10% more efficient at heat insulation.
If at first you don't succeed, then goto Plan B

Main Street

That celotex stuff does not meet the higher fire safety standards required for schools, hospitals, old folk homes.
Mineral wool is a fire retardant and the hard pressed sheets are the most practical to use externally on concrete building.

Though I live in a wooden house, I'm concerned that should the house go on fire, the insulation will not add to the inferno :)

Owen Brannigan

Word tonight is that the external cladding was made from polyethylene!

How anyone decided by use such a material on this scale on a building is incredible.  When it caught fire it wrapped the building in flames.

magpie seanie

Awful, just awful. Imagine the deaths these people had.

Owen Brannigan

Quote from: Owen Brannigan on June 14, 2017, 11:08:13 PM
Word tonight is that the external cladding was made from polyethylene!

How anyone decided by use such a material on this scale on a building is incredible.  When it caught fire it wrapped the building in flames.

Last night, Newsnight was saying polyethylene cladding but this morning the BBC is blaming the polyurethane insulation not smouldering but burning behind the cladding.

Either way this is a major tragedy for some of London's poorest, worse news is yet to come.